Carlos Carvalhal

Carlos Carvalhal has challenged his Owls team to beat last season’s points tally.

The Portuguese head coach earned big plaudits after leading Wednesday to a sixth-placed finish in the 2015/16 campaign.

The Owls clinched the final Play-Off berth with a match to spare by defeating tonight’s opponents Cardiff City at Hillsborough. Ultimately, Carvalhal’s men garnered 74 points from their 46 fixtures but missed out on promotion after losing to Hull City in the Play-Off Final.

Carvalhal told The Star: “I want to do better than last season. All the time we want to do better.

“At this moment, we have three more points compared with last season which is very positive. We did a very good season and so far we have more points.

“But we want to do better which is why we are working to improve the team.”

Wednesday have equalled a club record of clean sheets in each of the last two seasons. They chalked up 17 last time around and have so far racked up four.

“I’m not bothered (about clean sheets) but I don’t want other teams to score,” said a smiling Carvalhal. “I like to score goals.

“I prefer to win 6-5 than 1-0 as it is more interesting to the people but, first of all, I like to win.

We are working with the team not to concede goals and we are happy when we do that. It is important to be consistent.”

“Cardiff will probably be more difficult than Huddersfield as they play different but we understand how they play,” he said. “We prefer to play against Cardiff from three or four weeks ago, not this Cardiff. They have changed their style a little but we have studied the way that they play and are confidence we can get a good result.”

He is relishing pitting his wits against lifelong Sheffield United fan Neil Warnock, who was recently appointed the Bluebirds manager.

Carvalhal said: “I talked last season with Warnock. I appreciate a lot the talk with him. He is a very interesting person. He’s a good coach who has had a very nice career. I’m looking forward to meeting and talking to him again.”